健康生活:抗藥性肺結核病蔓延

This is the VOA Special English Health Report.

這裏是美國之音慢速英語健康報道。

In December, doctors in Mumbai, India, reported about a group of patients with what they called "totally drug-resistant" tuberculosis. Indian health officials have been investigating these cases. But there have been reports of untreatable cases of TB in the past. Doctors reported fifteen patients in Iran in two thousand nine and two patients in Italy in two thousand seven.

12月，印度孟買的醫生報告了一組他們所謂的“完全抗藥性”肺結核病人。印度衛生官員一直在調查這些病例。但過去也出現過無法治療的肺結核病例報告。2009年伊朗報告了15名病人，2007年意大利報告了2名病人。

Tuberculosis is a bacterial disease that usually targets the lungs. It causes an estimated five thousand deaths each day, or about two million a year.

結核病是一種目標通常爲肺的細菌性疾病。每天預計會導致5000人死亡，或大約200萬每年。

TB can be spread through the air when an infected person coughs or sneezes or even speaks.

結核病可以在感染人羣咳嗽、打噴嚏甚至說話時通過空氣傳播。

Some forms of TB bacteria no longer react to one or more of the antibiotics commonly used to cure the disease. These are known as drug-resistant strains. Some resist even more drugs. The World Health Organization says sixty-nine countries have reported cases of "extensively drug-resistant" tuberculosis. The WHO says at least twenty-five thousand such cases are reported worldwide every year.

某些形式的結核病菌已經對通常用來治療這種疾病的一種或多種抗生素不再發生反應，這被稱爲“耐藥菌株”。一些病菌甚至可以抵抗更多藥物。世界衛生組織表示，已經有69個國家報告了“廣泛耐藥性”的結核病。世界衛生組織稱每年全球範圍內至少有2500例這樣的病例報告。

The agency's director-general, Dr. Margaret Chan, is concerned about the spread of drug-resistant TB.

該機構總幹事陳馮富珍博士對耐藥性結核病的蔓延很是擔憂。

MARGARET CHAN: "Call it what you may, a time bomb or a powder keg. Any way you look at it, this is a potentially explosive situation."

陳馮富珍：“你可以稱之爲時間炸彈或火藥桶。不管你怎麼看，這都是一種潛在爆炸性局勢。”

Officials say drug-resistant TB has been a growing problem in countries like India and China. In many cases, doctors misdiagnose patients or give them the wrong treatment or not enough treatment. Misuse of these antibiotics increases the danger that the bacteria will develop resistance to them.

有關官員表示，耐藥性結核病已經成爲印度和中國等國家日益嚴重的問題。在許多情況下，醫生會誤診患者，或對患者錯誤治療，或者治療不當。濫用抗生素增加了細菌對這些抗生素產生耐藥性的風險。

Neeraj Mistry is a public health doctor. He says surveys show that very few Indian doctors are treating TB patients with the right drugs for the right length of time. Another problem is that patients may not take all of their medicine.

Neeraj Mistry是一名公共衛生醫生。他說，調查表明，很少有印度醫生針對患病時間長短採用正確的藥物來治療結核病患者。另一個問題是，病人可能沒有服用醫生所開的全部藥物。

NEERAJ MISTRY: "The emergence of totally-resistant TB is a result of failed public health intervention strategies. When we deliver ineffective treatment regimens and when we don't have full adherence and compliance to treatment, it enables the emergence of resistance within the individual."

NEERAJ MISTRY：“完全抗藥性結核病的出現是公共衛生干預策略失敗的結果。當我們提供無效的治療方案，當我們沒有完全遵守或配合治療，就會使得個體抗藥性的出現成爲可能。”

The WHO says new, stronger TB drugs could be available by the end of this year or early twenty-thirteen.

世界衛生組織表示，今年年底或2013年新的更強的抗結核病藥物可能會投入使用。

Researchers are also working on vaccines to prevent the disease. Dr. Ann Ginsberg works at the Aeras Global TB Vaccine Foundation. She says the development process takes a long time, partly because people often do not get sick for years after getting infected with TB.

研究人員還致力於預防這種疾病的疫苗。Ann Ginsberg博士在AERAS肺結核疫苗基金會工作。她表示疫苗開發過程需要很長時間，部分原因是因爲人們感染肺結核多年後纔會發病。

ANN GINSBERG: "So when you do a vaccine trial, you have to vaccinate people and watch them for years."

ANN GINSBERG：“所以當你進行疫苗試驗時，你必須對人們進行疫苗接種並觀察多年。”